Build Your Dream Network

Kelly connects with Maxie McCoy for a conversation on how to let go of uncertainty, shed the expectations of others, and stop comparing your career progress to other people's or to where you think you "should" be by now. Instead, as Kelly and Maxie discuss, the key to success is to focus on taking the essential micro-steps that will bring you closer to your goals and use your networks to guide you in reaching your potential. Maxie is the author of You’re Not Lost: An Inspired Action Plan for Finding Your Own Way and is obsessed with giving women the tools they need to believe in themselves. Kelly and Maxie's conversation can also be found on the podcast BOOKS CONNECT US, a cool new podcast from Penguin Random House featuring interviews every week with amazing authors.

The summer internship provides valuable career experience for students. So what do you do if your internship is cancelled, either due to the current coronavirus epidemic or something else entirely? In this episode, Kelly provides a framework for how you can hack together a summer experience fulfilling the three primary career needs an internship offers (a paycheck, real work experience and networking). From how to creatively source job opportunities to ways to look for digital internship experiences, Kelly's ideas will help you fill the gap in your resume. 

Kelly interviews Sherrell Dorsey, founder of The Plug on topics ranging from how to network in a new community to why slowing down to listen is a good career strategy when you're starting out. Learn how Sherrell is "fancy frugal" as it relates to her professional development (along with her concept of a personal content stack) and the intentionality she applies to mapping out her own leadership progression. This conversation will transform how you choose to think about your career advancement,  which is critical these days when career paths are often non-linear and networks are more essential than ever.  

Rejection is painful and, unfortunately, a regular part of our professional lives. If we can't dull the blows, can we at least lessen the sting of being rejected from something? In this episode, Kelly interviews New Yorker cartoonist Liza Donnelly--for whom rejection has been a weekly professional hazard since she started contributing in 1977--on how she stays positive and motivated after getting a "no," and how the rest of us can too.

Re-entering the workforce at any point in your career can be a daunting endeavor, whether you were involuntarily laid off or you chose to go out on your own for a while. In this episode, Kelly interviews Marci Weisler, Chief Commercial Officer at Vengo Labs, about how she approached a job search following many years of consulting and entrepreneurial ventures. Discover why working with a career coach can be helpful, when to ask for help, and of course, how to leverage your personal networks to unlock unique and unexpected job opportunities. 

Factors outside of your control can suddenly topple your career plans. In this episode, Kelly interviews workforce transformation leader Joyce Sullivan, Lee Hecht Harrison's Operations Director (Northeast Region). Joyce not only guides others who are making a career transformation, she's reinvented her professional destiny after being laid off Wall Street during the 2008 financial crisis. Her advice is a must-listen for anyone navigating a career transition, especially one that's unplanned or unexpected.  

Not only are we living longer and choosing to extend our work lives past the traditional age of retirement, but today, many people are also facing an unexpected job search as factors like the COVID-19 crisis have derailed career paths out of the blue. In this episode of the podcast, Kelly offers strategies for how more experienced professionals can tackle their reentry into the job search and the workforce. 

Wondering what updates to share with your network when you’re looking for career opportunities? Or whether it is OK to put a cancelled internship on your resume that was cancelled due to reasons beyond your control (such as the COVID-19 crisis)? This week on the podcast, Kelly provides ideas for dealing with new career quandaries you may be navigating today and suggests a few past episodes to go back and review to help you enhance your connections heading into tomorrow. 

When should you consider giving away your skills and talents for free and when is it a waste of your time? In this episode, Kelly explores requests to "do the work for free" that can pop-up during a career transition or job search and shares real-life examples from her network of how, with a strategic approach, these can be turned into opportunities to build up expertise, showcase talents, and even land dream job or gig.  

Have you ever sought career advice or feedback from your network on your professional strengths? In this episode of the podcast Kelly shares how her own network has inspired her to pursue new, previously unimaginable career paths. Discover why reflecting on what your connections see in you is a vital component of networking along with why Kelly launched her latest 30-day network-building challenge and how you can too.